Earth: our water world

This is not Planet Earth, it’s Planet Water

Oceans cover 71% of our planet’s surface and make up 95% of all the space available to life.

The rolling waves, glassy stillness, or frosty ice we see on the ocean’s surface hide an amazing variety of underwater worlds - from sunlit coral reefs to dark abyssal canyons, from forests of giant kelp to mussel communities clustered around scorching hydrothermal vents, from tidal mangroves to the vast open ocean.

Life began in the oceans, and continues to thrive in its diverse habitats. With as many as 100 million species - from the largest animal that has ever lived on Earth, the blue whale, to the tiniest bacteria - marine biodiversity far outweighs that on land. And new species are being discovered all the time.

Vital role for life on land...

The oceans also have a huge influence on us landlubbers. They produce 70% of our oxygen, absorb heat and re-distribute it around the world, and dominate the world's weather systems.

...and shapers of human history

The oceans have also shaped human history, culture, and lives - and continue to do so. We eat their bounty, bask on their beaches, swim in their waves, dive around their wonders, send our goods and raw materials across their surface, and mine their mineral- and oil-rich floors. There are very few people who are not somehow influenced by the oceans, even if they never set sight on one during their life.